Secondary Grades

Here are some useful lesson plans for students in secondary school. 

And available soon! Abraham Lincoln: Unfinished Legacies, a teacher resource book developed through a collaboration between The History Channel and National History Day. The intent of the collection of articles, lesson plans and resource suggestions is twofold: to support educators integrating a study of Lincoln in the curriculum and to help students make the connection in how the past influences the present. Contributing authors such as James McPherson, Harold Holzer and Steven Danver wrote from the perspective of Lincoln's unfinished legacies.  For more information, please contact Ann Claunch, the director of curriculum for National History Day at ann@nhd.org.

• The Choral Arts Society of Washington
  These lesson plans, designed for students in grades 1-12, use music to enhance studies in poetry, the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln's life. 
• National Portrait Gallery and The Choral Arts Society of Washington 
  In collaboration combining Choral Arts Society's "Such Was The War" with The National Portrait Gallery's exhibit "One Life: The Mask of Lincoln."  This Lesson Plan integrates music, visual arts, and social studies concepts into a lesson about Whitman and Lincoln.  Additional Lesson Plans can be found at the National Portrait Gallery. 
• Lincoln’s Position on the Question of Slavery and its Extension*
  Students will examine excerpts from Abraham Lincoln’s speeches and letters between 1854 and 1861 for specific information relative to Lincoln’s thoughts on the legality and constitutionality of slavery 
• African American Views of Lincoln*
  Students will examine Civil War era African American perspectives on Lincoln’s emancipation policies
• Lincoln and Civil Liberties*
  Students will examine views on civil liberties and the right of habeas corpus during the Civil War
• Lincoln and Women in the Civil War *
  Students will describe how Lincoln responded to the problems and suffering of women during the Civil War
• Lincoln as Commander-in-Chief*
  Students will evaluate and assess Lincoln’s performance as Commander-in-Chief
• Lincoln as President*
  Students will evaluate Lincoln’s presidency
• Lincoln's Political Theology*
  Students will examine the extent to which Abraham Lincoln’s religious and spiritual beliefs are reflected in his actions during the Civil War 
• The Great “What If” Question. How might American history have been different had Lincoln lived?*
  Students will discuss the impact of President Lincoln’s assassination on our nation’s Reconstruction policy 
• Lincoln and the Arts*
  Students will examine paintings and sculptures that celebrate the life and legacy of Abraham Lincoln 
• National Archives
  Teaching with Documents: Lincoln’s Spot Resolutions
• Abraham Lincoln Association
  Lincoln and His Generals
• Abraham Lincoln Association
  Lincoln and the War’s Larger Meaning
• Abraham Lincoln Association
  Lincoln and Emancipation
• Organization for American Historians
  Lincoln’s Refutation of Secession
• Organization for American Historians
  Lincoln, Emancipation and the Constitution
• Michael Hutchison for PBS
  In the Words of Abraham Lincoln
• Teacher Vision
  Classroom Lincoln-Douglas Debate
• Teaching With Historic Places
  Lincoln Home National Historic Site: A Place of Growth and Memory 
• Teaching With Historic Places
  Choices and Commitments: The Soldiers at Gettysburg

*Sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Written by James Percoco, Social Studies Teacher, West Springfield High School in Springfield, Virginia, and Howard Seretan, Benjamin N. Cardozo High School History Chairman Emeritus